Developh kicked off Collab with Pitch Day last August 24 (Saturday), 2019 at the Amazon Philippines Office in Taguig City. The event gathered over eighty diverse students to explore what it means to tangibly build initiatives for social good powered by technology, and listen to this generation of people making change who need help.
This event dovetails closely with the student-led accelerator model popular in Silicon Valley and the United States, where universities have attached innovation hubs to help build and grow student ideas beyond the walled gardens of academe.
Partnered with them in promoting this cause is content marketing and events management company, Ambidextr.
“The winning teams were inspiring in their own right, but they also reflected a larger cultural shift at work: Students no longer feel they have to wait several years after graduation to make a difference. Through technology and innovation, they can make a difference in the Philippines now,” said Kyle Nate, head of partnerships at Ambidextr.
In keeping with that model, all the organizations had five to seven minutes to pitch their ideas. There were three awards presented during Pitch Day: the Best Pitch Award, the Inclusivity Award, and the Innovation Award.
The first certificate that was given that night was the Pitch Award and it was for the organization that had the best pitch or presentation during Collab Pitch Day. It was given to Trinitech Alliance, a student-led organization founded by Earlrich Ibon, Loise Marie Ambat, and Michelle Lapiña, who are students from De La Salle University-Manila, and Centro Escolar University Makati, respectively.
Trinitech Alliance’s objective is to empower the less fortunate citizens through the concept of innovation while inspiring other corporations to be geared towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Their main mission is to integrate corporate social responsibility with technology as a means to solve existing and emerging social problems.
The second certificate was the Inclusivity Award, which was awarded to Likha, Liwanag. An organization led by Apple Nocom, a mental health advocate who graduated from Ateneo de Manila University. Her nonprofit organization aims to raise funds in order to financially support mental health patients from the Philippine Mental Health Association. She and her team also plan to take their organization to the digital space and starting a fundraising page partnered with PayPal or Stripe Integration to be able to collect more donations from individual parties.
The last award was the Innovation Award, and it was awarded to the organization that was the most innovative amongst the rest. It was given to Streets to Schools, another student-led organization led by a nursing student from the University of Santo Tomas, Qjiel Mariano, alongside with teammate, Bram Gonzales who is a 12th Grade ABM student at Centro Escolar University Makati.
The group presented a game and rewards App called Alitaptap. A game that aims to advocate the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child and the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. The goal of this organization is to advocate children’s rights to everyone who owns a smartphone through the game they have developed. To put people in other people’s shoes – to be able to understand how street children live day to day without any access to their basic rights.
The other advocacy partners that were present during Pitch Day was: Redefy Philippines, an organization that created a website that features different Filipino dialects to be accessible to all the members on the website. RoboTrash, a group that created a waste management robot application. Forth Co., an online wardrobe that assesses the user’s preferences.
Talang Dalisay, a student-led organization that presented TeachLife, a mandatory seminar for teachers to be more educated about mental health illnesses. Lastly, Girl Power International, an organization that created Project Web – a research database to refine topics about global leadership.
After Pitch Day, online applications will be released to join these partner organization’s projects before they embark on the 2-month virtual incubator. After prototyping, building, and testing, these groups and more will return for a Demo Day focused on industry leaders by the end of 2019. Learn more at https://developh.org/collab.
You can find Developh’s advocacy partners here:
Redefy Philippines: https://www.facebook.com/redefyph/
Forth Co.: https://www.facebook.com/forthcoph/
Talang Dalisay: https://www.facebook.com/talangdalisay.org/
Girl Power International: https://www.facebook.com/girlpowerintl/
Likha, Liwanag: https://www.facebook.com/likhaliwanag/
Streets to Schools: https://www.facebook.com/StreetstoSchoolsProject/
ADVT